Marvel Rivals Update: Legendary Hero Debut

Season Zero is over, and the first season of Marvel Rivals has arrived, bringing a wave of fresh content and balance adjustments. Let's dive into the significant updates.

Table of Contents

• What's New in the First Season?
• New Heroes
• New Maps and Mode
• Battle Pass
• Celestial Rank
• Balance Adjustments for Heroes
• Vanguard
• Duelist
• Strategist
• Team-Up

What's New in the First Season?

This season's theme? An undead invasion led by Dracula! To combat this darkness, the Fantastic Four have answered the call. Mister Fantastic and Invisible Woman are available now, with more Fantastic Four members joining the fight as the season progresses.

New Heroes

Mister Fantastic: A mid-range duelist with abilities for quick movement between enemies and allies, area damage, and temporary damage absorption.

Invisible Woman: A strategist whose attacks heal allies. She can create shields, manipulate enemies, and, of course, turn invisible!

New Maps and Mode

Two new maps, part of "Empire of Eternal Night: Midtown," are here. Battle it out in locations like Grand Central Terminal amidst the ruins of a ravaged New York City.

A new game mode, "Doom Match," supports 8-12 players. The top 50% of players after a set number of knockouts are declared the winners.

Battle Pass

Season One's Battle Pass is double the size of Season Zero's. With a three-month season length, expect significantly more content than before. The premium pass boasts 8 out of 10 skins, many visually stunning. However, Peni Parker's Blue Tarantula skin, a simple color swap, feels less impactful. The free track still offers Units and Lattice for completing tasks.

Celestial Rank

A new rank, "Celestial," sits between "Grandmaster" and "Eternity," divided into three divisions. While many players might find themselves stuck in Bronze, this addition may ease future ranking progression. As with many online games, a rank reset occurs at the end of each season. Your starting rank in Season One will be seven levels below your Season Zero ending rank (e.g., Platinum I in Season Zero starts at Silver II in Season One).

Balance Adjustments for Heroes

Balancing a large roster is a challenge. Season One introduces several minor adjustments.

Vanguard

Captain America: Received significant buffs, including reduced cooldown on his Shield and Rush abilities, and increased health.

Doctor Strange: Saw adjustments to his damage and shield recovery.

Thor: Health increase and crowd-control immunity during his ultimate.

Hulk: Slight nerf to his gamma Shield health.

Venom: Buffed with increased armor based on lost health and increased ultimate damage.

Duelist

Black Panther: Reduced extra health from Spirit Rend.

Black Widow: Improvements to her Edge Dancer radius, Fleet Foot recovery time, and ultimate charge time.

Hawkeye: Slight nerfs to explosive arrow spread, Archer’s Focus activation distance, and passive damage bonus.

Hela: Health reduction. New Twitch Drops available featuring a Hela skin and other rewards.

Magik: Increased Umbral Incursion damage in Darkchild form.

Moon Knight: Increased talons and blast radius in his ultimate.

Namor: Throw accuracy adjustments.

Psylocke: Ultimate skill now checks for opponent barriers.

Punisher: Slightly reduced spread for Deliverance and Adjudication.

Scarlet Witch: Enhanced with increased Chaos Control damage and Chthonian Burst damage.

Storm: Significant buffs to attack speed, damage, and ultimate health bonus.

Squirrel Girl: Improved squirrel targeting and reduced squirrel tsunami health.

Winter Soldier: Increased health from abilities, main attack damage, and base health.

Wolverine: Increased health and reduced damage reduction.

Strategist

Cloak & Dagger: Reduced Dagger Storm cooldown and increased dashes in their ultimate.

Jeff the Land Shark: Adjusted ultimate range and increased Joyful Splash healing.

Luna Snow: Increased mode change break during her dance.

Mantis: Reduced Nature's Favor acceleration.

Rocket Raccoon: Increased healing speed in recovery mode.

Team-Up

Season bonus reductions for Hawkeye and Hela; enhancements for Namor, Rocket Raccoon, Magneto, and Storm.

While many of these changes are subtle, they could shift the meta. Only time will tell the true impact of these adjustments and the new heroes.